... Heavy metal in Atlanta has suffered the same complex. For years, metal bands toiled in the trenches with little fanfare. But soon after Mastodon was nominated for a Grammy in 2007, a newfound buzz enveloped the scene, giving a boost to long-standing acts such as Athens' reincarnated Harvey Milk, and emerging metal bands Zoroaster and Withered.One local band scheduled to play the Scion Fest is Apocalyptic Visions. The group's founder and frontman, Sam Cuadra, has been making harsh, death-afflicted metal in Atlanta since the mid-'90s. Unlike Mastodon or other local metal groups, Apocalyptic Visions is the only act in town that relies on a slew of theatrical effects during performances. The band is outwardly mean, confrontational and antagonistic toward audience members.It exudes an intimidating vibe every bit as menacing as Mastodon, yet after a decade and a half, the group still grinds away in obscurity. "It is an uphill battle for metal in this town," Cuadra says. "There's a glut of bands that are legitimately awesome."We put our all into every show that we play, always. Since this Scion Fest is a big one, we will work extra hard because there are potentially a lot of new fans there. But I don't think it will change the pecking order of anything around here," he says. "When we start playing at 12:15 [in the afternoon], the people who are there early enough to see us will look at us, look to the right, and then to the left, and move on to see if something cooler is happening somewhere else. That's just the way people work."But Cuadra's jaded evaluation personifies the larger problem. "I'm not antagonistic toward Vice but I am antagonistic toward the mind-set and the lazy inertia that people carry out in their lives," he says. "People don't go check out new shit."That goes for him, too. "I don't ever go see anybody's bands, and I have no use for people who go see shows to make friends and make sure that everyone likes the same kind of music and is ready to get on board the awesome train together. Fuck those people."
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For today’s Roll Call we call out Sam Cuadra a.k.a War, the ghastly ogre who fronts “The Angriest Band In America,” Apocalyptic Visions.
Who are you?
I am one of the four unspeakable names from the angriest band in America: Apocalyptic Visions. We are known by the deaths we bring. I am War. My brothers are Famine, Pestilence, and Plague.
Describe yourself in three words.
Bad Mamma Jamma.
Who — dead or alive — would most you like to meet?
Bender Bending Rodriguez. When I first heard him say “Kill All Humans” I thought gee, this guy really gets me.
Who would you most like to slap in the face?
The Tar Baby. Not Joel Chandler Harris’s character, there is someone in my life I call the Tar Baby.
What song do you wish you had written?
The “Theme From Hatari” by Henry Mancini.
Elvis Costello or Elvis Presley?
Oh fuck, Elvis Presley for sure. At least the dead cannot continue to torment with their insufferable noise.
LP, CD or MP3?
You really can’t beat the authentic sound of funeral mourners in person. No recording can capture the experience of getting down to the cemetery yourself. For added fidelity I like to poke the bereaved with a stick.
If you could start one trend, what would it be?
The enslavement of mankind.
If you could end one trend, what would it be?
Reality telivision.
With whom would you most like to play a game of spin the bottle?
Tiffany Pollard, a.k.a. New York. While she was busy staring at that bottle I’d konk her on the head. A few weeks chained to the drain under my sink ought to soften her up enough to make a good wife. A Wife For War.
Apocalyptic Visions plays a CD release party at the East Atlanta Icehouse tonight, Fri., Nov. 21. w/ Chopper, Burden of Vision and Son of Tonatiuh. 8:30 p.m. $6.